Considering hiring a contractor to provide materials and labor for your new pole building? Or maybe you are one of the smart ones and are going to purchase a pole building kit package and hire a builder to assemble some or all of it for you.
Here has been my advice to readers: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2013/07/contractor-6/
Long time readers will remember the story of Judy’s motorcycle crash back in September: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/10/when-life-changes-in-the-blink-of-an-eye/
She was discharged from Craig Hospital December 17, and needing a place to go to which was wheelchair friendly, returned to her partially finished home on the South Dakota side of Lake Traverse. I say partially finished, because it did not yet have floor coverings. Last summer she had carpet all picked out, but for whatever reason – didn’t get it ordered, which is good as her power wheelchair would not have liked her choice very well.
Hardwood flooring is now being installed in the building (primarily oak, with small amounts of maple and Brazilian cherry for accents). The installer, however, does not do the sanding and application of the polyurethane to complete.
In an effort to speed along the process, I ran an ad in Craigslist in both the Fargo area, as well as Northeast South Dakota. Not too many folks in this part of the country, so it takes a shotgun approach to get quality work done at even semi-affordable prices.
One of the responses to my ad was from Bryan S. from a local contracting company in Fargo, ND. He did have a website, which is more than I can say for any of the other respondents.
Via emails, we arrange for him to come to the house to view the work to be done on Tuesday January 5. In his presentation he sounded competent and made some suggestions, including the adding of a window in the rear wall of Judy’s sewing loft. We agreed upon a price per week for his work, after being assured he was one of those people who would put in 50-60 hours per week.
Bryan told a sad story of having worked for a contractor in North Dakota who had stiffed him for most of his pay. He was also supposed to be starting a big job for a couple in Horace, ND, however they kept putting him off, so he was currently between clients.
He asked for a week’s pay up front, so I wrote him a check, then he asked if I had any cash as he didn’t have any money for gas to get back to Fargo (red flag). Knowing he would be back Friday to begin work, I gave him my credit card to get a tank of gas with.
From here I will relate by the text messages back and forth (typographical errors are due to reporting exactly as received):
Check back tomorrow for Part II
